Dark And Light Developer Chat (Sept 1st, 2003)
The DnL Developer Team offered to do a chat with The Syndicate. About 65-70 members participated
in the chat and 40 questions were taken. Additional questions were later submitted via email. The log
of the chat is enclosed below so that the whole DnL community can benefit from the answers:
---- Dragons_LLTS: Ok everyone.. you all know why we are here =) Vuuar, eg0 and Zedux are here from the Dark and Light team.. and eg0 too i see =) to answer your questions on the game.
eg0: Just to clarify, I'm not part of development team, nor I'm developer. I take responsebility for the community, and work on community releated issues. I'm under supervision of Vuuar.
eg0: I said this to safe my own skin from Vuuar ;)
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 1: Is the beta still scheduled to start in September?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Game Designers are waiting the green light of Net Dev...
Vuuar (DnL Dev): They talk me about a stability test for our client software to bench our client configuration
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 2: --> How does the "offline" tradeskill system work? Do you get to set prices and make items for players, at those prices, on demand when out of the game?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): prices will be decide by the player before he logout...
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question #3 -> Will you have a bank to store items in or just mule chars and housing?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Yep Bank and your house
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 4: -> can you play the game from overhead views or is it stricktly from the players eyes perspective?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): differents cameras are enable in DnL, wich include first, third and some others like elastic view...
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 5: In the skills department, is it going to be different from other games where people macro-process one thing to get better at a skill? or is there going to be reward for diversifying and making different things within a subset. i find it difficult to believe someone could build a boat when all they ever made were hammers.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): the diversification is essential in DnL
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Because to Become a Master in a skill, you need to know well all the process of that craft
Vuuar (DnL Dev): The speciality come after when you will choose your way with Great Mastering
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 6: --> Will there be a Linux version of the DnL cliet? Or will it be windows only?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): window only for the first release.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 7: How high end of a computer will it take to run DnL? Or what would you recommend people to have?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Our Engine use many ressources of the proc AND the video Card,
Vuuar (DnL Dev): so the recommend is P4 1.8 GHz or more with 512 Mo RAM and Gforce4 ATI Radeon 9700
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 8: Can a player only own 1 house per character? per account? Are they customizable or specific types/designs only? Do you build your house from the ground up or does the game build it for you?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Screenshots are made on the kind of PC with a good Frame rate
Vuuar (DnL Dev): the standard appartment is done for an account and all the characters of this account : The family of the player
Vuuar (DnL Dev): All the items of this appartment are share by all characters of this account.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): We give some specific appartment for each account, but players or Guilds will have possibility to buy individuals houses or castles...
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 9: The world is clearly very large with several thousand border forts and lots of area to explore. Are there ways to move around besides walking? If so, what are some examples?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): for sure, a network of public transport exist in DnL
Vuuar (DnL Dev): to join the principals cities
Vuuar (DnL Dev): a teleport network done by our mana fountain exist too, but you need to fight to keep them and guard them, if you are Dark or Light
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 10: Since you are a European based company... will the Value Added Tax (VAT) be charged to North American players on top of the monthly fee?
eg0: I could add also our sympathic mount, dodo into transportation examples *grins and then quickly shuts his mouth* :)
Vuuar (DnL Dev): I am not the lawyer of the company, but i think that american people have their own taxes, and eurepenn
Vuuar (DnL Dev): oops
Vuuar (DnL Dev): europeans will pay their VAT
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 11: Will a player on a modem/Dialup Connection be able to play? or is a highspeed connetion needed?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): DnL will be "Playable" with a 56k modem, but it will be more confortable with faster connection
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 12: How much will weather (wind and snow) effect character movement? or is weather simply eye candy to help set the mood?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): We had implement a very complex weather system, which will really influence all the aspect of the life in DnL
Vuuar (DnL Dev): And more in extreme places, like high mountains, deserts ...
Vuuar (DnL Dev): You have to check the weather and the environnement to optimize your craft, travel, fight...
Vuuar (DnL Dev): So i think you understand that our meteo system is not only for teh look
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 13: Will there be set server down times and is there a plan for preventing Time warps when data may not of been saved and needs to be loaded from last server backup?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Normals interrupts will be planified, and we hope to not have others.. :)
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Net Dev can certaibly answer you better for the other part of the question
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 14: What are some of the features of your guild management system? Can we see a list of all members? their classes? kick someone out who is offline? add someone from across the world? set a MOTD?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Specifics HUds will exist for the managment of the GUILDs in DnL, and we want to give you many tools for your agreement. We will be open in beta test to adapt those tools.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 15: Is the Dodo the only mount available to players? Is a mount something that is hard to obtain or will they be fairly common among players?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Dodos are the first easy mount in DnL, many others type of mounts exist too, but much more difficult to have.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): some Flying mountures are avalaible too
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 16: "Seams" of resources appear to be limited in number. Is that correct? if so, what would prevent a few "grief" players from hogging them all and preventing others from getting any? Or will there be more than enough to go around?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Could you precise by resource term plz
---- Dragons_LLTS: The components needed to craft... like the building blocks to make items.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): So Official ressources area are illimited but with a lower rate quality than the discover one
Vuuar (DnL Dev): The personal ressource area is manage like NPCs for us
Vuuar (DnL Dev): with a good skill you can discover better ressources area
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 17: The online FAQ indicates that the two moons will have an important functionality in the game, because the location of each moon influences the Dark and Light alignment. Does this mean the moons will rise and set, or that they are in fixed locations but on opposing sides of the land?
eg0: As experience with the gaming, I could say that even rare ones should not make problem. One can't defend multiple resource "fountains" against community.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Yes of course moons are managed like sun and stars
Vuuar (DnL Dev): each moon have their own revolution duration, so you can have no moon, 2 moons or one moon or eclips...
Vuuar (DnL Dev): For example, like the weather, those conditions will influence the craft and life in DnL
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 18: Some recent games (like Star Wars Galaxies) required Hardware Transform and Lighting in the video cards they supported for the game. Will DnL support INTEL based video cards which dont have HTL in them?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Our engine is for now in Open GL, we massively use HTL, but it work without it with a poor frame rate
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 19: How many chars can you have on an account? And can you allow other peoples chars to have access to your apartment and to your secure storage chest?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): 18 The meaning of the next stability test and bench prior to online beta
Vuuar (DnL Dev): We not have definitivly take a decision about the number,
Vuuar (DnL Dev): a palyer can define a list of friend to access to his appartment
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 20: Can a single guild have members who are Light races and members who are Dark races? or will that not be allowed? Can Light and Dark players group together and hunt monsters?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Guild are aligned Dark or Light
Vuuar (DnL Dev): but Darks and Lights players can cooperate in hunting against monsters
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 21: Will there be an ingame map to help players find their way? will there be a coordinate system to help mark points of interest? (i.e. Meet me at 3000,4000 to go hunt some orcs)
Vuuar (DnL Dev): yes to both, but ingame maps are linked to abilities, skills and GD rules
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 22: There are some really nice screenshots on the website but they dont show many/any monsters. Are there going to be a wide range of monsters to fight and will there be some good screenshots of them soon?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Monsters are in Process
Vuuar (DnL Dev): You will see some monsters soon
Vuuar (DnL Dev): doen
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 23: Will there be any GameMaster run events? Like monsters invading a town? Or GMs leading a Light attack on the Dark? or things like that?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): yes of course, we will manage a game master team
Vuuar (DnL Dev): having only one world is really a benefit for all the community, event become world wide
Vuuar (DnL Dev): and good game master is good for everybody
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 24: Can you tell us a bit more about Social Experience? And maybe some examples of how you would earn Social EXP?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): all action oriented Community give SXP
Vuuar (DnL Dev): example : give ressources to mana fountain make SXP
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 25: Since crafting items is an important part of the game, will there be "item loss" (i.e. when you die you may lose some or all items) so there is an Economy (i.e. players need new things so crafters stay in business)?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): all used items need to be repaired in DnL. You could even broke your item
Vuuar (DnL Dev): so crafters can stay in business
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 26: The world is 15,000square miles which sounds HUGE. But since there is 1 giant world for everyone, just how big is that really? Does it take 1 minute or 10minutes to run a mile? Or can you tell us some other way to visualize how large that is, in game terms?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Like in real life you walk at 3 miles per hour and with a Dodo you run at 30-40 miles per hour
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 27: You said Light and Dark people cannot be in the same GUILD. But can you have a Light and Dark char on the same ACCOUNT? And if so, can they share a house since all chars on an account share the same apartment?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): You cant share the same house with your darks and light characters
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 28: Are there negative consequences for a high level player murdering a low level one? Or does the game code just not allow it? Are there areas where you are totally save from being killed? Can a light player kill another light player?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): in the beginning zone (Dark or Light kingdoms ) you are safe
Vuuar (DnL Dev): in 10 others kingdoms it's full PvP
Vuuar (DnL Dev): but if you follow God rules, Your God can protect you in case of too high level aggressor
Vuuar (DnL Dev): A light Player can never kill another Light Player
Vuuar (DnL Dev): If a Player abuse lower level player he become "Wanted"
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 29: Can a player do pretty much whatever they want.. in whatever order they want, in order to advance to higher levels? or do you force them to battle certain monsters in certain areas that form natural bottlenecks in the game?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): every one do as he want for his levelling, levelling is not the ultimate goal in DnL
Vuuar (DnL Dev): PvP, craft, exploration, politic and Social management are other ways to develop the player in DnL
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 30: If an item breaks.. can you repair it? or is once it is broken, it is lost forever?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): some break can be repaired, some not !
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 31: Is there anything to prevent a person from having a char in dark and in light and using guild boards and IRC to share information? Is that illegal by the rules of the game?
Vuuar (DnL Dev):Sharing Infos beetween Dark and Light Characters are illegal, it's
difficult for sure on internet to prevent these, but we can log some
suspect characters and Gms can take decisions in case of fraud. With the
same account you will not be authorized to open a Dark character in the
same time than a Light. For exemple, when you log a Dark Character, you
have to wait few hours before be able to log a Light one.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 32: Can you alt-tab out of the game and/or play in window mode?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): it's actually enable, we discuss about disable or not this function
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 33: GUilds or players can take over fortresses. Can you deny access to other players? even if they are on the same side as you (i.e. can a Light guild deny letting other light guilds enter their fortresses?)
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Houses and Castles owned by players or Guilds have this function, but forteress are just aligned Dark or Light
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 34: The FAQ mentions 42 different tradeskills offered. Can you give us the names of a few of the less common ones? We assume Smithing and things like that are in the game. What are some of the more interesting ones?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Glass Blower for potions
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Paper Maker for scrolls
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Meat Cutter for cookers
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 35: Will the winner of a PvP fight be determined by how fast their connection is? or how good their items are? or will it be more based on how well the person can play their char? (note: going to make question 36 the last one since its getting late for Stephane and some of you)
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Our axis is based on how well the player play his character, but sure your equipment will help you a lot
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Connections would be not too much influence the result, we have to test that
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 36: About your skills... once you invest points in raising a skill... will there be a way to reclaim those later if you make a poor choice? or are you stuck with the choices you make?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Yes you can reclaim major of your points and you will never stucked in your choice
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question #37: Will there be any kind of auto-run? With a world this large we are going to need something to this effect.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): for sure, a player can chat when auto run is on, very important for us to keep in touch with your friends
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 38: I believe I read on the website that the reason you can have such a vast landscape is that the landscape can be generated dynamically. Is this true? And if so, about how much of the land will be handcrafted versus dynamically generated?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): be more prcise plz,
---- Dragons_LLTS: Much of the world is computer generated.. so that could make it look very much the same
---- Dragons_LLTS: How many different models will there be to draw from and/or how much will the developers draw themselves?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Nothing is generated fractally, we develloped tools to integrate reals landscape base on earth satellite views, and we have merged hundreds of differents maps. So Each place is really different to each other !
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 39: How high can flying mounts go? Out of bowshot? out of site? Can you attack when flying? Are there underwater mounts?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Some Flyings mounts like transports fly too high to be shots, individuals mounts can always be shots.
Vuuar (DnL Dev): done
---- Dragons_LLTS: Question 40 (last one): And to end on a funny note, one of our members is very fond of gnomes.. he wants to know why gnomes are so ugly =) and can we give them a better looking graphic?
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Funny Question
eg0: Gnomes have their inner beaty ;)
Vuuar (DnL Dev): Gnomes in DnL are not really commons
Vuuar (DnL Dev): the only race who love water !
---- Dragons_LLTS: yeah but you know gnomes.. they are so superficial with their looks=)
Vuuar (DnL Dev): lol, yes Gnomes are not so bad... the beauty is really inner ;)
---- Dragons_LLTS: This was great =) We learned alot more about DnL!
Vuuar (DnL Dev): was a pleasure to take a time with your community
Vuuar (DnL Dev): I hope and sure you will enjoy DnL !
After the chat, some additional questions were submitted via email. Here is a list of those
questions and their answers:
- Can you explain some of the special abilities some of the classes will have? For example, can a druid charm animals? or does he just
cast spells? Are there other "cool" skills only certain classes will have?
Answer:
Skills are very sensitives in DnL and we always said that nobody will be able to know them all before release. Even in Beta we will not give
them all. I just can say that we work to give really typical skills trees to each class. Each Class have 3 ways of specialization and nobody
can be a master in all, so you can see a cleric player that can not be able to make resurection, if it's not his first way ! There is 4
categories of classes in DnL : Casters (Necro, Enchanter, Illusionist,
Wizard ), Hunters (Archer, Bard, Rogue, Ranger), Fighters (Paladin,
Monk, Warrior, Shadow Knight) and Healers (Druid and Cleric)
Fighters are afraid about Casters which are afraid about Hunters which
are afraid about Fighters. Healers are neutral. "Afraid" means that in
"one to one" fight, this class will certainly lost the fight at the same
lvl, with some exceptions.
- Does a warrior simply just tank like in EQ? (Tank meaning that he is
just a meat shield meant to keep damage off the other classes while they
kill the monster)
Answer:
Each Tank is really different in DnL, for sure it have to tank others
and grip ennemy on them, but some of their skills are powerfull enough
to do others things. For example a Monk can become a "Holy" Character
with a powerfull God Protection, SK can make dead corpses less able to
be res by clerics, etc....
- What is the main difference between a Ranger and an Archer since in
most players minds, Rangers are good archers?
Answer:
Rangers are good archers for short and middle range, Archers can
become a very good sniper at long range. Archer can come from "Caster
College" too and so they can hit magicals missiles. Rangers can come
from "Healer College" and be able to become a healer.
- Can you be more specific on some of the features you will have in the
guild system? Can you set a Message of the Day? Can you kick members
out who are offline? Can you see a full roster of those in the guild
along with classes? levels? last time they logged in?
Answer:
All the Guilds tools will come later in beta test (beta 4 or 5), we
have our ideas about which tools you need, but we really are openned to
your suggestions. Our Policy is to put DnL in the hand of our players,
at term we will only manage the limits.
- How much can your backpack hold?
Answer:
Depend of your constitution and your strong. But you can have some
magical satchels to help you !
- How much can you store in your apartment? Will you get more storage
space in larger houses than you will in an apartment?
Answer:
Appartment is great to help you to transfer items from your differents
characters. Largers Houses can have special rooms, specially for Guilds
(Teleport rooms, Craft rooms etc...)
- Are there any features that you talk about on the website, that you
DONT think will make it into the final but havent updated the page to
reflect that yet?
Answer:
We will not put all the forteresses at the release, we will manage
with the real numbers of players, so we can stay with a same rate all
along the game. (Not too hard and not too easy to have one ! ) Each
patch will put some more, depend of the new players.
- How large are the light and dark areas that are nonpvp? Can you go
your whole career and advance to max level and skill without going into
the pvp lands?
Answer:
Dark or Light areas are more larger each than all Everquest ! If you
want to play on monsters like in Everquest you can make it on thoses
areas (even for high levels). But you will be slow down in your social
progression. PvP zone are most exciting and can give players all the
diversity of the game with the social rules.
- What is the "coolest" feature of DNL in your opinion?
Answer:
For the first time, One World in one Sever ! When you will meet
somebody who say you "I play DnL", you will be able to really meet him
in the game ! So it's why our world is so huge !
- Why do you think DnL is a better game than the other MMORPGs in
development?
Answer:
Better in technology : have a look of DnL and others for the world !
We will have only one Server too. We made the choice of medieval heroic
fantasy world to not obliged player to learn new rules, and so we can go
far away than never in GD.
- If one chooses a mage character, can we expect different kinds of
magic between a Dark Mage and a Light Mage? Will Dark and Light make
certain aspects of magic different between the two besides the name? For
example, a Dark spell may heal a Dark character but damage a Light
character or vise versa."
Answer:
A little bit like that, with more nuances. Magic is really important
in DnL and we work to make it really interesting with a lot of diversity
in the game. Don't Forget that even Pure Fighters have Magic in DnL!
